Management or leadership: which course should you take?

If you are new to business, start with Principles of Management (Business 101): it covers what managers do, with chapters on leadership, teams and motivation. Choose Foundations of Leadership (Business 205) for leadership theories, styles and power, or Leadership and Organizational Behavior (Business 206) for personality, motivation, teams and culture. None of them lists a prerequisite.

Principles of Management covers the whole job of managing: structure, teams, motivation, control, human resources and strategy. Foundations of Leadership is about leading people, and has a chapter on where leadership and management meet. Leadership and Organizational Behavior studies how people and groups behave at work, and how leaders shape that.

Yes: Leading Organizational Change (Business 213) covers leadership styles, power, the forces behind change, change models, culture and overcoming barriers to change. Like the three courses on this page, it is NCCRS only and lists no prerequisite.

Principles of Management: NCCRS recommends 3 semester hours, lower division, in Business among other subjects. Foundations of Leadership: NCCRS recommends 3 semester hours, lower division, in Business among other subjects. Leadership and Organizational Behavior: NCCRS recommends 3 semester hours, lower division, in Organization Behavior among other subjects.

Principles of Management: Business, Finance, Management, Administration, CIS or Marketing. Foundations of Leadership: Business, Business Administration, or Management. Leadership and Organizational Behavior: Organization Behavior, Business Administration, or Management. Your college decides which requirement each one fills.

Principles of Management: 16 chapters and 74 instructional hours. Foundations of Leadership: 12 chapters and 60 instructional hours. Leadership and Organizational Behavior: 20 chapters and 85 instructional hours. All three are self-paced, so you finish as fast or as slow as you want.

None: no syllabus of the three lists one, so you can begin with Leadership and Organizational Behavior or take them side by side.

The format is the same in all three: a final of 100 multiple-choice questions that counts for 25% of the grade.

Principles of Management: Coulter, M. A., & DeCenzo, D. A. (2020). Fundamentals of Management (11th ed.). Pearson, with other references. Foundations of Leadership: Drucker, P. F. (1998). Lessons in Leadership (J-B Drucker Foundation Series). Jossey-Bass (optional), with other references. Leadership and Organizational Behavior: Yukl, G. A., & Gardner, W. L. (2020). Leadership in Organizations (9th ed.). Pearson (optional), with other references.

No: none of the three is on the ACE list. Principles of Management has an NCCRS recommendation for 3 semester hours in Business; Foundations of Leadership has an NCCRS recommendation for 3 semester hours in Business; Leadership and Organizational Behavior has an NCCRS recommendation for 3 semester hours in Organization Behavior. Not being on the ACE list never means not recommended for credit.

Leading Organizational Change. In the “Lead people and projects” order on the Business courses page, it follows Leadership and Organizational Behavior. Your program may set its own order.

Yes. Principles of Management is a separate course: enroll in it alone, study it online at your own pace, and send its transcript to your college.

A pass is 70 or more. The grading scale on your UPI Study transcript shows how 70 maps to a letter grade; for most colleges it is a C.

ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities. Search your school in Find My College and ask your registrar which courses Business 101, 205 and 206 would count as. For the registrar: Principles of Management's NCCRS recommendation lists Business and Foundations of Leadership's NCCRS recommendation lists Business.